The drawing above is based on a photograph found in an article by Rossella Lorenzi, entitled Most Ancient Writing Found?, in Discovery News, The Discovery Channel.

The tortoise shells clearly have holes and markings representing stars which we originally interpreted as 5600 BC. However, Orion at the bottom could also mark the Spring Equinox at ca. 3117 BC, with Orion and Taurus as a pig, Auriga as the mask of a man, Cassiopeia as a woman, Pleiades and Perseus as a bird, Cepheus as a three-banded armadillo, Sagittarius, Virgo and Boötes as a phallic symbol, Centaurus as a whale, Ursa Major as a bird (owl?), Lynx as a cat and Canis Minor as a dog.

The Hermetic Principle - As on Earth, so in HeavenThe hermetic principle - as on Earth, so in Heaven - is well-established in Chinese ancient writings. To our own astonishment, as we have discovered, the Great Wall of China was originally built as a landmark representing the Milky Way - the legendary Dragon of Heaven.

The two crossing points of the Milky Way are at the Ecliptic, the traditional two ends of the Great Wall in China (the original wall of tamped mud and rock may have been longer in the tail in ancient days). This heavenly and earthly Dragon is evidenced in archaeology as the East AND West Dragon as marked on the walls of the tomb at Zhangye, discovered in April, 2000.

The Great Wall may have been used militarily later but defense was not its initial purpose. Most terrain north of the Great Wall is desolate and unpopulated and needs no defense at all. Rather, we are certain that the Great Wall developed through ancient travel along what is later known as the Silk Road (Route), where travelers needed geodetic astronomiocally-oriented landmarks to cross vast expanses of territory.

Stars were used to mark a safe route, resulting in the subsequent marking of landmarks by astronomy as long mounds of tamped earth and rock along which travelers were to journey. Later, these constructions, over thousands of years, were then extended along China to the sea, were perfected by the Chinese people and made into the wondrous Great Wall of China which we see today.

The Head of the Dragon - Azure Dragon East - Shanhaikuan

The East End of the Great Wall of China at Shan-hai-kuan (Shanhaikuan), just north of Ch'in-huang-tao (Qinhuangdao) on the Gulf of the Liaotung (Liaodung Wan) viz. the lower larger Gulf of Chihli or Po Hai (Bo Hai) is known as "the Head of the Dragon".

The constellations of Sagittarius, Scorpio, Libra and Virgo (apparently also Cygnus, Andromeda and Lacerta, the early Chinese "Tang Shay") were known as the Azure Dragon (or "East Dragon") in the ancient Chinese solar zodiac - and later were even incorporated into Capricorn by the Chinese astrologers in the Sing Ki. See Richard Hinckley Allen (hereafter RHA), Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover. Since the Eastern end of the Great Wall is known by the people as the "head" of the dragon, this is the first confirmation of the astronomical connection of the Great Wall to the Milky Way.

The Tomb at ZhangyeThe "size" and location of the heavenly dragon became clearer through a discovery made in a Tang Dynasty tomb at Zhangye, Gansu in April 2000. This tomb has wall paintings of a Green (Jade) Dragon on both East and West walls, with the so-called Dark Warrior on the north wall and the Red Bird on the south wall. The eastward and westward stretching Dragon is thus the Milky Way, confirming the heavenly location of the Red Bird (from Procyon and Cancer to Spica and Virgo) and the Black Warrior (as from Pisces and Pegasus to Sagittarius) - as determined by David B. Kelley.GEMINI and SAGITTARIUSThe Ends of the Great WallThe Great Wall of China in its traditional length starts at Sagittarius in the East and ends at Gemini in the West because these are the only two points where the Milky Way and Ecliptic cross.

YU-MEN = GE-MINI (The Twins): Gemini is the city YumenYumen marks Gemini as Yumen-guan (Yumen Gate on the Great Wall) in Gansu province, China. Yumen-guan also had its "twin gate" known as the Yang Guan. These gates on the Great Wall are at the position of Gemini next to Taurus the Bull in an astronomical context. Chinese legend states that at this gate Laozi rode his black buffalo out of the Hexi Corridor. The black buffalo is Taurus and the "Hexi-Corridor" is Gemini [the well of Gemini]. Yumen-guan was the "Jade Gate Pass" on the Silk Road (Silk Route) going West. (RHA)

JIUQUAN and ZHANGYE marked ORION, TAURUS and the PLEIADESThe city Jiuquan (Jiayuguan, ancient Suzhou, Su-zhou) was the hand of Orion. Chinese su means among other things "hand" Chinese zhou means "state, continent", but also "islets in a river". If we take that river to be the Milky Way, then this is the upper hand of Orion in the Milky Way, the star Betelgeuse. The term Suzhou ("Sukchu") finds its comparable in Scaliger's Sugia and Asugia for Orion (RHA), and the late Pharaonic Sahu for Orion.

The city Zhangye was the arm of Orion. Chinese zhang means "palm" but in the martial arts kung fu this term is the whole arm, so this is the ARM of Orion .

TAURUS and the HYADES are the city SHANDAN: Chinese shan is "mountain" and dan is "pure red". Shandan is thus the red star Aldebaran in Taurus. Liang in the city name Liangzhou (Wuwei) can mean "bright lights" in Chinese, i.e. the Hyades. According to RHA in ancient Chinese astronomy Ta Leang [i.e. Dan + Liang] was "the Great Bridge" involving the Hyades and Pleiades (see Tanum).THE PLEIADES are Lanzhou: There is a protuberance of the Milky Way downward toward Perseus which leads almost to the Pleiades. This protuberance is also found in the extension of the Great Wall southward at this point, leading almost to the city of Lanzhou (ancient Lanchow, Lan-chou). Lan means "blue" viz. "blue-green", i.e. the color of the Pleiades. According to RHA (p. 399), the Pleiades were at one time similarly called Chu or Chow by the Egyptians.

CEPHEUS, CASSIOPEIA - Yinchuan, WuzhongYINCHUAN was CEPHEUS: Cepheus is the city of Yinchuan (Yin-Chuan). Chuan means "central point". This is the protuberance of the Milky way at Cepheus around which the stars of heaven seem to turn, since the pole star follows a circle running through Cepheus.

WUZHONG was CASSIOPEIA "the Inner Throne of the Five Emperors". This throne surely applied to the "crown" of the five prominent stars of Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia corresponds to the city south of Xingchuan, which is Wuzhong. Wu means "five" in Chinese and Zhong means "central" but also "noble, great"

BEIZHANGTAN and LING TAI (TA LING) marked PERSEUSThe upper star of the Chinese Perseus was called Tien Chuen "Heaven's Ship". RHA says that Perseus was named Tseih She "the Piled-up Corpses", but this seems to be a later confused version of Tseih Shwuy, also applied to Perseus, meaning "Piled-up Waters" which then surely applied to the large widening of the Milky Way at this point.

Chinese hang means "big water drain" and tan means expansion, so that the astronomical Tseih Shwuy is supported. A part of Perseus was also known as Ta Ling, "the Great Mound" (RHA) and this is the present Lingtai, i.e. Ling-Tai (rather than Ta Ling) at this location on the Great Wall. Ling means "tomb, heavenly, celestial". Tai means "reach" and Ta means "big". We have the comparable Tien Tai "celestial terrace", so that Perseus was viewed as a big terraced mound reaching into the sky.

AQUILA, CYGNUS, SHAMO the DragonBEIJING (PEKING) "the Dragon's Breath"HUANGYAGUAN and BEIJING (FENGTAI) marked AQUILA: The most ancient name of Beijing (Peking) was Fengtai and this appears to be ancient Feng ch'i which is "the Dragon's Breath" (Feng actually means "wind") and this part of Aquila is the "breath" or "jaw" of the Dragon of the Milky Way.

In the astronomy of the constellations, the Chinese saw Aquila as a heavenly raft. The connecting term might be found in the nearby city of Fangshan (now a suburb of Beijing) - since Fang means "square" and Shan means "mountain".

In terms of the stars, Beijing (Peking) can, however, only be the lower star of Aquila, which is outside the Milky Way - for Beijing is not on the Great Wall.

The gate ON the Milky Way at Aquila is somewhat Northeast of Beijing at Huangya-guan (Huangyaguan) where Huang means "yellow" and ya means "tip" so that Huangya is said to mean "yellow cliff" and "Huangyaguan" is said to be the "yellow cliff pass". In an astronomical context this could only be the tail-star of Aquila at the "cliffed valley" in the Milky Way just before Scutum.

PIANGUAN marked CYGNUSAbout twenty stars in Cygnus, Andromeda, and Lacerta made up the Chinese Tang Shay, the Dragon. This is the head and neck of the dragon. The major gate on the Great Wall here is Pianguan which is located where the Milky Way splits in two strands.

AURIGA was HECANGHecang (He-cang) is known as "big square town". This will perhaps be the "square of Auriga" given by RHA as Woo Chay (the five chariots) or Pa Kuh (the eight cereals).SHANHAIGUAN and QINHUANGDAO were SAGITTARIUSThe Dragon's head in the far East of China is at the city Shanhaiguan at the sea. Shan means "mountain", hai means "sea" and guan means "gate"

More interesting for our purposes is the city just below it, Qinhuangdao where qin means "hold, grasp", huang means "yellow", and dao means "sword." This is Sagittarius as the sword or arrow. RHA notes that the 19th Chinese sieu had the similar name Tew, Tow or Nan Tow, and anciently Dew.

THE 28 CHINESE MOON STATIONS
also called LUNAR MANSIONS (written XIU viz. SIEU)There is an old Chinese system of marking the sky, consisting of 28 moon stations (lunar mansions), called xiu or sieu. Our decipherment of the Great Wall of China gives us the original position of these lunar mansions. They are much older than currently thought.

In modern times they are started at the star Spica in Virgo, but this of course was not the original position. The scholars rely on sources such as Hasumi Yasui - who wrote only in 1699 AD - thinking that Spica started the Lunar Mansions because Spica marked the Autumn Equinox in ca. 500 AD. But this undisputed fact about Spica in 500 AD has nothing to do with dating of the origin of the xiu system nor which lunar mansion was originally first - many years prior to 500 AD.

DATE OF ORIGIN OF LUNAR MANSIONS is 3117 BCAs shown below, the NAMES of the Lunar Mansions tell us EXACTLY when this system came to be, and that is in 3117 BC.

The starting point is actually at the star beta-Hydra, following xi-Hydra, the 28th and last lunar mansion - which marked the Summer Solstice in 3117 BC, as we have already seen for the megalithic system of Ancient Britain. The calendars are related.Below are the Lunar Mansions (XIU, SIEU), dated by us in origin to 3117 BC, with Western comparables, counting clockwise:

THE ORIGINAL 28 CHINESE LUNAR MANSIONS 3117 BC(our interpretation)1 - The Unhorned Dragon - This is the star beta-Hydrae following xi-Hydra, which marks the 28th XIU and the Summer Solstice in 3117 BC. A line through the Pole Star from beta-Hydrae passes through the Milky Way at Deneb in the Dragon's Head, below the protrusion of the Milky Way at Cepheus, which marks the Horn of the Dragon. Here the dragon is still "unhorned" and that is why this mansion has this name.

2 - Neck, Dragon - A line from Corvus and the end star of Ursa Major through the pole star hits the Milky Way at Dragon's Neck (where Cepheus meets the Milky Way) also passing through the center of Crux, the Southern Cross.

3 - Bottom, Raccoon - This is the fur of Coma Berenices and the bottom which is Virgo.

4 - The Tree, Rabbit - This is a line running through Arcturus the tree and the and the rabbit Centaurus.

5 - The Heart, Fox - The Fox is Lupus with the heart at Libra.

6 - The Tail, Tiger - This is the tail of the fox, Lupus.

7 - The grain threshing flail - Serpens Caput and Corona Borealis.

8 - Tortoise Head - This is the Autumn Equinox 3117 BC on a line marking the head of Ophiuchus at Antares in Scorpio.

15 - Legs, Wolf - A line from Deneb where the Milky Way splits to Enif as the Wolf. This is the Winter Solstice 3117 BC.

16 - The Cord - The line running from the back of Cepheus to Lacerta,Pegasus and down the side of the bucket of Aquarius.

17 - Stomach, Pheasant - Line from the Middle of Cepheus to the front of Pegasus (the Stomach) to Ankaa in Phoenix (the Pheasant)

18 - The Rooster - The line formed by the last star of Cassiopeia,the front star of Andromeda and Triangulum and Aries.19 - The Net, Raven - These are the Pleiades, also known as SIETINS "the NET" in Ancient Latvia. It may include Perseus.

20 - Nose of the Turtle - Auriga, Aldebaran at Taurus and perhaps also including the nose-shaped triangle formed at Eridanus.

21 - Hunter, The Great Monkey - Orion, the Vedic Hanuman, and also found as a Monkey at Nazca in this position. Vernal Equinox in 3117 BC.

22 - The Well - This is Gemini, which has the shape of a well, here marked by the lower twins.

23 - Wagon - This is the first star of Ursa Major (alpha), on a line with the upper stars of Gemini (Pollux) and Procyon.